Johnny Mythen
Question:1058. Deputy Johnny Mythen asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the number of unoccupied social housing stock in County Wexford and in each county council in tabular form. [7627/20]
View answerWednesday, 27 May 2020
Questions (1058)
Written answers
Local authorities will always have a level of vacancy in their housing stock and this will fluctuate over time, as tenancy surrender and re-letting of stock is an ongoing process.
My Department actively encourages local authorities to ensure all vacant properties in their stock are brought back into use as expeditiously as possible. Since 2014, funding has been provided for this purpose under the Voids Programme and the suite of works being funded is tailored to encourage swift turnaround. Local authorities also provide significant funding from their own resources to address the level of vacancy within the social housing stock.
The National Oversight & Audit Commission (NOAC) reviews the social housing stock level in local authorities every year, including the number of vacant local authority houses at a particular point in time. NOAC’s activities in this regard are published in its Annual Performance Indicator Reports. The most recent report, relating to 2018, is available on the NOAC website and can be accessed at the following link (see Appendix 2): http://noac.ie/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/NOAC-Performance-Indicator-Report-2018-1.pdf.